1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a motor drive device including a motor as a drive source for a reel with a plurality of symbols.
2. Description of the Related Art
Heretofore, in the related motor drive device for a gaming machine, such as a slot machine, comprises a support shaft which is inserted into a central path of a reel. The reel is formed in one-piece construction with a gear through which rotational torque being generated by a stepping motor is transferred to the reel. By the rotational torque, the reel is rotated around a center of the support shaft. According to the related motor drive device having the above mentioned structure, the gear indirectly transfers rotational torque of the stepping motor to the reel, and the motor drive device enables the stepping motor to bear load greater than that of a direct-drive type motor drive device (see, for instance, related art: Japanese Patent Application Laid Open Publication No. 10-71240) in which a drive shaft of the stepping motor is directly pressed and fitted to a central path of the reel.
Meanwhile, to rotate the support shaft inside the central path, a slight clearance between the inner peripheral of the central path of the reel and the outer peripheral of the support shaft is provided, i. e., the diameter of the central path of the reel should be greater than the diameter of the support shaft. Hence, the reel shakes leftward or rightward as viewed from a player (hereinafter, referred to as “a reel shaking”) during start-up or stop operation of the motor commensurate to the increase in dimension of the clearance. As used herein, the term “the reel shakings” refers to movements in that the reel shakes in a direction as shown by an arrow AR1 in FIG. 5.
The present invention has been completed to address the above issue and has an object to provide a motor drive device that is able to minimize the reel shakings of a reel during start-up or stop operations of the reel.